Characters are not created by writers. They pre-exist and have to be found.

I can't see or feel the conflict between love and religion. To me, they're the same thing.

Each piece of dialogue MUST be "something happening". . .The "amusing" for its OWN sake should above all be censored. . .The functional use of dialogue for the plot must be the first thing in the writer's mind. Where functional usefulness cannot be established, dialogue must be left out.

Almost everyone admits to hunger during the Opera.... Hunger is so exalting that during a last act you practically levitate.

...though one can be callous in Ireland one cannot be wholly opaque or material. An unearthly disturbance works in the spirit; reason can never reconcile one to life; nothing allays the wants one cannot explain.

Plot is the knowing of destination.

Bring all your intelligence to bear on your beginning.